


Baby Boomers

by Baamon5evr



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Kidfic, M/M, Mentions of PTSD, Steve wants all the babies, vague allusions to abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-18
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-04-21 08:04:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4821554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baamon5evr/pseuds/Baamon5evr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve wanted to have a baby and he wanted one really, really bad. He wasn't sure where the desire came from because before he couldn't even imagine having children and right after the serum he was awkward and couldn't even hold one properly but now?  He wanted to experience parenthood and most of all he wanted it with Sam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby Boomers

**Author's Note:**

> Little bunny that hit me. I just enjoy the idea of Steve feeling his non-existent biological clock ticking every time he sees a baby and completely being taken with the idea of Sam being a sexy working dad while he did a stay-at-home dad gig.

Steve wanted to have a baby and he wanted one really, really bad.

He wasn't sure where the desire came from because before he couldn't even imagine having children and right after the serum he was awkward and couldn't even hold one properly but now? Now that he and Sam had decided to retire from the superhero business, Steve passing his shield to Bucky and Sam giving his wings to Eli Bradley, now that they were settled and lived together and were happily married with Sam very close to attaining his psychology degree while still working at the VA and Steve doing art classes at their local youth center, Steve felt they were getting to a place where they would be ready to raise a child and he wanted more than anything to be a father. He wanted to hold his child in his arms, love them fiercely and be loved purely in return. He wanted to experience parenthood and most of all he wanted it with Sam.

Perhaps it was backwards, wanting children with him before Sam even had a stable job locked down but Steve couldn't stop the desire and he would gladly stay at home with their baby while Sam worked. He didn't mind being the one to prepare a hot meal for his hard working man to come home to and rubbing his overworked feet. Okay now he was disturbing his libido and he needed to stop.

He parked his motorcycle inside the garage before walking to the living room where he stopped dead. Sam was sitting on the couch reading through something on his laptop while he held the house phone to his ear with his shoulder and held a small baby in his arms feeding her with a bottle he held in her mouth using his chin. Steve stood staring blankly as Sam looked up at him with barely a passing acknowledgment. Steve knew this was probably ridiculous, that Sam with a baby in his arms stopped him in his tracks, but all he could really do was stand there and stare at Sam effortlessly multitask.

"You alright over there?" Sam asked suddenly. It took Steve a moment to realize he was talking to him and not whoever he was on the phone with.

"I... I'm... that's a baby."

"Yeah...?" Sam trailed off questioningly.

"A baby..."

"You said that already." Sam commented before turning his attention back to his phone conversation.

"No, not you. I'm talking to Steve." Sam paused for a moment adjusting the -- completely adorable -- baby in his arms as she flailed her arms a little. He put the bottle down on the table and lifted her up so he could burp her.

"Sarah says 'hi' Steve." He shook his head a little trying to bring himself out of his embarrassing stupor. He doubted he would live this one down.

"Steve would say hi back but apparently the presence of a baby in our house has broken him or something. Look I'll call you back once I find the on switch on my husband, I'll tell you more about this last Professor who has seemed to make me failing these last finals his sole mission in life. Love you, Sis." Sam said his goodbyes before hanging the phone up and then pressing the laptop closed.

"You done staring like you've never seen a baby before?" Sam asked standing up and making his way to the kitchen where, yep sure enough there were pots of food cooking. Apparently the idea of Sam being the sexy working dad was firmly cementing itself in all aspects of Steve's mind but he had to start acting normal or else Sam would never let this go.

"What's her name?" Steve asked just as the baby gave a pretty loud burp, then again that could be his enhanced hearing.

"This beauty is Maya."

"How old is she?"

"10 months. Remember my vet Raina?"

"The woman you said you were worried about because one of your vets committed suicide?"

"Yeah, that's her. Raina actually had a relationship with the vet and Maya's the result. She's been going it alone. She doesn't have family and most of the father's immediate family lives in China, wasn't close to his extended family. I noticed Raina's been struggling lately so I told her to swing by with Maya, take a load off. She's asleep upstairs and I left my cell up there so Jocasta and Friday could watch her." Steve took in all Sam had said. He felt awful for this Raina. He knew from experience that dealing with PTSD wasn't easy; dealing with the death of someone you loved wasn't easy. Those things coupled with being a single mother probably didn't breed for a stable environment for either Raina or Maya. Sam must have really been concerned if he decided she needed to be watched if only by the AIs Tony had given free reign and access to every electronic they owned (without their permission but that was Tony.)

"I told her she could stay as long as she needs. That okay?"

"Of course." Sam wouldn't be the man he loved if he didn't selflessly care for others, sometimes to a fault. Sam was struggling slightly to turn the chicken over while dealing with a hand full of baby.

"Can I?" Steve asked, tentatively holding his hands out. Maya started reaching out towards him before Sam could even agree.

"Well, she's answered for herself." Sam quipped with amusement, handing her over. Steve held the baby in his arms as she smiled at him and held his face in her small hands. She had almond shaped eyes from her Asian heritage and dark brown hair with medium brown skin. She was a beautiful baby, it only made Steve want a child even more.

He pressed the baby to his chest and meandered his way towards the living room away from the hot kitchen. He sat down on the floor in front of the couch and watched Maya crawl to two small stuffed dogs on the floor and then crawl back to him. She handed one to him so they could play together. Steve smiled at how smart and intuitive she was and immediately became absorbed with playing with the giggling, cooing baby for the next few minutes. She was an affectionate baby, hugging him whenever she got the chance, smiling at him, holding and touching his face, kissing his cheek too. It was a type of affectionate he felt his paternal side sorely missing but he hadn't even talked to Sam about it yet and it wasn't fair to him to press upon him Steve's need for a child when he was still getting himself together.

He was so focused on Maya he didn't notice someone else enter the room until Maya began to squeal happily and crawl over to their left. Steve looked over to see a tired looking woman standing there, smiling down at the baby. She was a beautiful woman despite the bags and redness of her eyes, her dark hair was in long braids held back from her face and her skin, though paler than he suspected it usually was, was a rich darker brown. He vaguely could remember seeing her in some of Sam's sessions as he passed by to give him lunch or pick him up.

"Hi, you must be Raina." He said politely, standing to shake her hand.

"Yeah, you're Steve. Sam's husband, right?"

"That's me."

"Sorry for intruding like this. I'm sure the last thing you expected was to find a crazy woman and a baby in your house."

"Hey, it's no problem. Besides, with the people I've met in my life this is tame in comparison to what I could've and have come home to, trust me."

"Hey you two, dinner's ready." Sam said, poking his head into the living room. They began to make their way to the kitchen but Maya reached out to Steve before they entered. Raina readily handed the baby back over and she cuddled into Steve's chest after shoving the pacifier clipped to her onesie into her mouth.

"She likes you. She's a bouncy baby but she doesn't usually take to new people all that well." Steve felt a little warmer inside as Maya snuggled further into his chest. The warmth only intensified when Sam smiled largely at him when he entered the kitchen and looked him up and down with passing desire, not desire born of lust though more from a longing. Maybe Steve wasn't the only one who knew exactly what he wanted of their future together.

Later on after dinner, Raina kissed Maya's head then went back to bed at Sam’s insistence. Maya didn't fall asleep so easily but Sam let Steve fuss over her, bathe her and then play with her until she was rubbing at her face tiredly so he rocked her to sleep while he quizzed Sam on some questions for his upcoming final.

"Wanna know something funny?" Sam asked while Steve gently laid Maya down on the couch on her back, a pillow next to her so she didn't roll off.

"What?"

"According to Bucky, you couldn't figure out babies to save your life. You would refuse to hold his sisters. Plus in all your early pictures you always look so awkward holding babies but now you're the baby whisperer, how'd that happen?"

"Pepper made me learn to hold babies properly and, well I guess instinct just kicks in when you think you're ready."

"I noticed that lately. Been waiting for you to talk to me about that. I keep telling you you can't expect me to read your mind, baby. You can't sit and do your best suffer-in-silence impression while I try to figure it out."

"I know. I'm still working on it. So let's talk." Sam patted the seat next to him and Steve sat down, collecting his thoughts while he did so.

"I know that we're still getting things together. I have my art classes at the center which I love and you are so close to your degree. I want you to have it, to officially be a psychologist and make your decisions about a job, get stabilized before anything else."

"But after?" Sam prompted.

"But after, I want a child. I... want us to be able to have our family together. I know you said it was something you wanted then but is that something you still want now or in the future?" Steve asked nervously.

"You're right. I have to focus on my degree right now. I'm so close to having it, just a couple tests away from graduation. Then I need to get my career together and that could take a while." Steve nodded in understanding but felt disappointment welling up in him.

"But what I want hasn't changed. One day I do want us to have a family. We've come a long way to being ready for that; I doubt an adoption agency would have been comfortable giving us a child when we were actively superheroes. We just need a little more time but I promise as soon as we're stable, we'll immediately register with the agency. Think your nonexistent ovaries can hold on 'til then?" Steve chuckled quietly, mindful of Maya's presence.

"You already know I'll wait a thousand years for you."

"Only a thousand?" Sam quipped sarcastically.

"And a thousand more." He replied before pressing a kiss to Sam's lips. Already picturing just what their future could hold.

~*~*~

It didn't go exactly as planned. Sam graduated no problem and decided to begin working at a practice close to the VA where he had patients through the practice so he could get a paycheck but he had ended up working with both the VA and his day job to set up sessions with the veterans and the therapists there.

After Sam’s job situation was stabilized, they registered immediately and spent a mandatory six month period as foster parents first before they went into the adoption process. They went through two adoption processes but in one instance the mother decided last minute to keep the baby and in the other instance the baby was stillborn. They mourned both those losses but kept trying. Eventually, their steadfastness paid off. Their adoption agent found a one year old baby girl for them named Tiffany in Baltimore. It worked out perfectly really. The practice where Sam worked actually had a sister practice located only an hour away from Sam's mother's house where they were staying. Darlene’s place had enough space for the three of them. They stayed in the guest bedroom and figured they would convert Sarah's old room to a nursery and keep the baby in there seeing as how it was the room closest to the guest bedroom. Of course when they arrived their agent finally decided to drop a truth bomb.

"What do you mean a stipulation?" Steve asked sitting across from their agent.

"The baby has siblings. A seven year old brother named Jason and a thirteen year old sister named Emma. At this point, the kids must be adopted as a group."

“Did you know about this beforehand?” Sam asked blankly, he seemed to be openly listening and not judging one way or another.

“Yes, I did know. I was hoping when it came time to tell you it would just work itself out.” The woman replied, pushing her glasses up on the bridge of her nose.

"So you lied to us?" Steve said with a frown, he was upset but trying to hear the woman out. She'd been nothing but sincere in her quest to help them.

"We've tried to have them adopted separately and as you can imagine there's been many people who want Tiffany and a good amount for Jason but there aren't a lot of people who will adopt a thirteen year old. I've watched that girl come back a little more broken every time. The only time I've seen her happy is with her siblings so I fought to make sure they'd be adopted together." Steve looked over as Sam flipped through the file. Emma looked wholly different from her siblings. Where Tiffany had medium brown skin and dark locks and Jason had lighter brown skin with short curls down to his cheeks, Emma had sun-tanned ivory skin and long blonde hair. However she had the same full, rosy cheeks as her siblings and the same green eyes and wider nose.

“They share the same mother but they all have separate fathers. Emma’s died when she was young, Jason’s is in jail and Tiffany’s father is unknown. I know this is a lot to ask, I don’t even have the right to ask it of you, but I just knew I wouldn’t find a better, more excepting family for all three of them than with the two of you. If you could just think about it, please. I know this can work out for everyone involved.”

“I don’t even know if we have enough space where we are.” Steve mumbled, mostly to himself. Sam shrugged beside him.

“We could keep Emma in Gideon’s old room, she’d definitely have to have her own room. Jason can stay in my old room and the baby would be in Sarah’s.”

“I thought your aunt was staying in your old room.”

“She’ll be going back to Harlem by the time we get the kids.”

“If we take them. We just have to talk more about this at home.”

“That’s perfectly fine. You can call me back with your decision in the next 48 hours.” The agent said.

Ultimately Sam and Steve took the three children under a six month fostering period. But once those six months were up they couldn’t imagine letting any of them go. It wasn’t easy. Emma was wounded from the life she'd lived with her mother and the abuse she had endured in some of her foster homes and Jason had nightmares about his mother but between them and Darlene they made it work and they became their children, their family.

The process of adopting them was long but they stuck through it straight up until they finally signed the last of the papers. They stayed with Darlene for another couple of months to let the kids finish out their school year before they finally moved back to New York so the kids could meet the Avengers. It had been a while. Altogether, Steve and Sam had been away for a year and even though Bucky and Natasha had made time to come meet the kids and talk to them over Skype and they had made a trip to Clint’s farm to let their kids play with his, the Avengers had been busy with missions and keeping everything stable as far as public opinion where the registration act and SHIELD were concerned so they hadn’t met them.

“They’ve been waiting to meet you guys for a long time. They’re going to be so happy to see you.” Sam said from the passenger seat in reassurance as the family of five drove towards the Avengers complex. They had already settled the kids into their house, the house they hadn’t stepped foot in for a year but it still looked the same and untouched. A little cold perhaps but they’d make it warm eventually, the five of them.

“Are you sure they’ll like us, Daddy?” Jason asked from the back seat, sitting strapped in next to Tiffany who was sitting in her car seat playing with the stuffed bunny Darlene had gotten her as a going away present.

“Of course they’ll like you. You’re awesome and Tiff is practically a magnet.” Emma reassured her brother, poking his nose. Jason smiled before going back to his tablet game. Sam looked back as Emma leaned forward and spoke lowly so Jason wouldn’t hear.

“They will like us, right Dad?”

“Are you kidding? How could they not?” Sam replied.

“If they don’t I’m calling SHIELD up right away because obviously they’ve been kidnapped by HYDRA and replaced with life model decoys.” Steve said with the gravitas of Captain America making a rousing speech as he looked forward while they drove down the road. He hadn’t lost the dramatics when he handed the shield over.

“You heard the man. He’s got his ‘freedom-and-justice’ voice going, that’s how you know it’s serious.” Sam answered back earning a smile from Emma.

“Well, the welfare of my children is just as important to me as the freedom of the American people.”

“Ooh, now he’s gotten politically sappy. Watch out, next thing you know he’s gonna--”

“Let it be known that I’d choose you guys over baseball and apple pie any day.”

“Cheesy. He’s moved on to cheesy, that’s it’s for us. He’s gonna glare them all down and go all Papa bear on them for even looking at you guys. Good luck.” Sam smiled with accomplishment as Emma started laughing. That sound had become a precious one to them.

“Thanks Papa.” She said kissing Steve’s cheek.

“Thanks Dad.” She continued before kissing Sam’s cheek and sitting back to play with Tiffany. Steve looked over as Sam grabbed his hand between them on the dashboard and brought his hand up to kiss it.

“Nice job, Papa bear.” Steve smiled brightly at hearing that name again. He didn’t know how much fulfillment he would feel from hearing that word attributed to him, to be called ‘Papa’ had made him feel whole. He felt a whole new level of love in his heart as he looked over his three children and his husband, he wouldn’t trade this life for anything in this world.


End file.
